


The Wait

by CrystalHopeDragon



Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 06:09:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18382544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalHopeDragon/pseuds/CrystalHopeDragon
Summary: So Going Merry had a consciousness from the love the crew gave her. It seems believable to assume that the Thousand Sunny does too. And as we saw in that one movie scene, Merry is still watching over her crew. So...how do you think they felt when the crew vanished for two years?





	The Wait

Merry had been enjoying retirement so far. Don’t get her wrong, it kind of sucked that her body got destroyed less then a year out to sea, but it was one hell of a year. Even ships that survive a century rarely can tell the tales she could. Flying to Skypiea on the Knock Up Stream, falling into marine bases, traveling the globe. She was a lucky cruise ship, even if she was never used for her original purpose. 

And she was loved. So very, very loved by 9 wonderful people. Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Vivi, Karoo, Chopper, Robin, and especially Usopp. Usopp, who put as much care into keeping her alive that her creator had into building her (and as she was a 20 year side project, that meant something). As far as she was concerned, for that year, she’d been the luckiest ship on the sea, damage be damned. 

And after it? When she’d pushed herself to her limit and had accepted her fate? Saved her crew one last time, knowing the consequences? Was burning in the flames, ready for her end? A new crew member came along to her beloved family, collected some of her wreckage, and made a tiny vessel for her. Renamed her Mini Merry, and put her aboard their new home. So, let’s restate. Merry had been enjoying her semi-retirement so far. After all, once in a while, she still got an adventure of her own, away from Sunny. 

But maybe that was part of the problem right now. During that year, if she wanted quiet, she could have it. She could let her consciousness go off line for a bit and relax. While the crew was on board Sunny after her destruction, they kept him entertained, so she could relax.

...The crew wasn’t on board Sunny.

“I’m booooooored!” The young spirit whined, hanging upside down in her face. Merry sighed, opening her, well, mental eyes to see him. 

“I can see that.” She responded, crossing her legs. She’d been sitting at the base of one of the masts. Liking to imitate their captain, Sunny had his legs dangling from the top of the mast and had stretched his form all the down to her vantage point. “And how do you plan to fix that?” 

“Play with me!” He whined, trying to grab her arms. She carefully phased through the mast and behind it, dodging his grab. She sighed.

“I have, six times this week already. You really need to find a new way to entertain yourself. Have you thought of meditation?” She learned it from Zoro. He did it all the time to focus his mind and prepare for fighting. It was also a nice way to relax, as both Vivi and Robin had taught her.

“That’d make me even more boooooreeeed. When are the humans coming back?! Did they ever leave you alone this long?!” He pouted, jumping down in front of her, upside right. 

She felt a twinge in her chest, something she’d been trying not to acknowledge. The reason she kept letter her mind drift, unfocused on reality. She grabbed his hand and dragged him down with a sigh so that they were sitting facing each other. “No. No they didn’t. I can’t honestly remember being alone for more then a day, much less 3 months. I don’t know when the humans are coming back.”

He seemed shaken by this. “They...are coming back, right?” He sniffed out.

She let her frown harden at that. “Of course.” She ground out. “Do you think Duvall would be putting so much effort into keeping you safe if they weren’t going to return? Besides, they’ve never abandoned us before, why would they now? They’re just...taking more time then usual.” She had to say it. Not just for him, but to assure herself.

“What do we do for now?” He whimpered out.

She grimaced. “The one thing no Strawhat is good at. We wait.” 

——— 

This...turned out harder then she expected. She’d had to be patient before, don’t get her wrong. It took her creator 20 years to finish her, and his love at least gave her a semblance of a consciousness early on. It was different though. Back then she was just a vague concept, a good ship, but not much of a person yet. And she wasn’t waiting on something. Being finished sure, but that was a when, not an if. She knew she would be completed, just not when. Now she was a person though, brought together by their love. Now she didn’t even know if they were coming back, and that was the hard part. She kept up faith though. Why would they keep them safe if the crew wasn’t going to return? Duvall got hurt and left, but then the bear man showed up and kept up guard. Surely more protectors wouldn’t keep coming if the worst had come to pass.

Unlike Merry though, who’d had years to figure out who and what she was, Sunny was new. Like, really new. He’d been built and named in a week and then immediately set out to sea. While Merry was more of a teenage mind in development, Sunny was a child. He’d been on the water all of two months before the crew went missing, and it was shaking him to the core. So unlike Merry, who was willing to drift out of consciousness and wait for the best, he refused to, and therefore refused to let her either.

So she had to find a way to kill time. At first she played along. For those first three months she played his games. Imitated the crew members, played around the ship, told stories and ran wild. But she got tired of that quickly, having had months of real time with them, and knowing this was just a bland imitation. Then she tried to ignore him, sleep through his pestering. ...He was a lot like the captain, it didn’t last a day. So finally? The thing that kept them going for the rest of their two year wait? She started reading him the books. 

———

The library on the Thousand Sunny was huge. In that first week when he was building him Franky had packed it full of any books he thought they’d need, and a few fun ones they might want. Since then though, in the two months the crew was whole, it got even larger. 

Nami packed it full of books on weather patterns and navigation. She found books on marketing and budgeting, as well as some cheap romance novels for her downtime. Robin had bought every book she could find about the Grand Line, it’s history, it’s geography and architecture. Cultural texts from all across the globe. She even found a few from the other blues as well, just to be prepared. There’s was also a large section of newspapers from her and Nami, constantly updated until the day they left. 

Chopper had medical textbooks, experimental research papers, books on plants and medicines and their locations. He’d found every book on diseases he could find, and had filled a shelf in the most visible section of the room entirely on STDs. When asked to move them to a less noticeable location, he refused. Said something about it being a good warning sign.

Sanji had a small section of cookbooks, full of the recipes he gets to use less often because of the local resources available. The rest stay hidden in the kitchen, well out of Luffy’s view. He also had a section on ingredients, edibles through the grand line and separate sections for each Blue. Next to them was a few books on fish and oceanography, and one precious story book at the end -roughed up from years of reading and rereading by a clumsy child- telling about All Blue. No one touched that book, they knew better.

Zoro had two books in the whole library. One was a list of the master-craft weapons scattered throughout the world, and some known locations and owners. It was fairly recent, and he was surprised to find he was on the list as an owner. The other was a list of stretches and exercising to increase muscle mass, as well as some rare fighting techniques. Sanji made a simple soul comment every time he saw them, and gave Zoro an opportunity to test out the second books effectiveness. 

Brook had come to them with the entire library from his old crew, which was three shelves worth of music sheets in all actuality. Since then he’d compiled many a book on modern music and its development, trying to catch up on the years he’d missed. 

Franky had stuffed a section entirely on mechanics, engineering, and the history of technology. He also had a small section on carbonated drinks and their production. Usopp had added to this section, filling it with books on weaponry and technology that he liked to use. He also had some books from Skypiea on dials that came in handy from time to time. 

The most precious section in the library, if never acknowledged though, did come from Usopp. It was the fantasy section. Rows upon rows of books on fairytales, knights in shining armor, giant monsters and bigger hero’s. Fantastical tales of great pirates with greater treasures, God’s and goddesses and the gifts and curses they bestowed upon man. Everyone on the ship had picked up one of his books to read at some point. 

Some, like Chopper, did so giddily. He would go bounding out of whatever room he was reading to excitedly recount what had just happened in his tale to whoever was nearby. Most humored him, listening in. Usopp did so as long as he had read it, refusing to listen if he hadn’t though. No spoiling the adventure, after all! 

Zoro or Sanji would grab one in secret, hiding out in the kitchen or dojo to read. Everyone knew, no one commented, lest they have to face the fury of an embarrassed warrior. 

Robin, Nami, Franky, and Brook borrowed them at luxury. When there were no pressing matters and days of sailing ahead, they were a good way to unwind and delve into a different world for a bit, get their mind off the problems they face in the real world. 

Luffy read them when bored. It was the only kind of book he read actually, nearly giving everyone a heart attack the first time they found him curled up on the mast reading one. To be honest, some of them hadn’t even known he could read. When the real world slowed down too much for him though, Luffy would go and borrow one of Usopp’s little worlds, the adventures of a fictional pirate bringing some life to the duller days of the real one. 

With all this in mind, all these memories shared between the two of them and their crew, Merry and Sunny sat down to read. Obviously, they started with the fantasy’s. Sunny found the stories of great kings and dangerous creatures fascinating, and loved the voices Merry made when reading the dialogue aloud. They laughed and played out some of the cooler scenes, shifting their forms to look like the knights or beasts or pirates they read about. Once they ran out of fantasy, they moved on to history. Reading about real kings and powers, real adventures the world had held. There was an entire history book on the revolution of all things, something that you’d think the currently still fighting army would be cautious about recording. They still couldn’t resist the chance to read about their Captain’s dad, though. They moved on to architecture, culture, plants and animals. Before they knew it, years had flown by, and they were nearly out of books. 

When they were finally down to debating on whether or not they should touch Chopper’s section on STD’s, Sunny suddenly froze up, hearing a noise outside. “Dad’s home.” He whispered out, and vanished to the deck. Merry quickly followed, joy alight in her eyes. Franky! Franky was home, he was cussing and aiming at the bear guy, but he was home! The bear guy just got up and left anyway, so it wasn’t an issue. Then Franky boarded the ship! Unbeknownst to him, the moment he boarded, little Sunny had clutched onto his leg. He didn’t let go again for...well, he didn’t let go again until he left the ship again several days later. Merry couldn’t blame him, she had every intention of grabbing Usopp the moment he boarded too. And board Usopp did. Within a day he arrived as well, though Merry only had a short time to hug him before he headed off for supplies. That was fine. She didn’t need the constant reassurance Sunny did. She knew. The crew was back, gathering, and they’d set sail soon enough. The wait was over.


End file.
